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Tuesday, 29 September 2015

I was ill last week, so you can have what I prepared for then this week.

Bunnygrunt - Frankie Is A Killer
An old-ish track, but off a new compilation from the St Louis veterans. Bunnygrunt Vol 4 is out now.

The St Pierre Snake Invasion - Rock 'N' Roll Workshops
New stuff from Bristol. Some proper old school rock from the LP A Hundred Years A Day which is out on October 31.

Penetration - Just Drifting
A new track from the punk veterans, their first since 1979. They got back together a while ago touring the old stuff, but now there's something new.

Featured AlbumThee Headcoats - Troubled TimesThee Headcoats - Girl From '62
This week's featured album is Elementary Headcoats a re-release of which is due imminently. It's a collection of tracks released between 1990 and 1999, originally released in 2001, and is very much in the Billy Childish - for it is him - idiom. Garage rock as it used to be.

Drew Worthley - Bone China Saviour
Off the second album, Crucible, which is out on Friday. A bit Dutch Unclesy, which is never a bad thing.

I, Ludicrous - We're Signed
Another one from Dull Is The New Interesting which by now I trust you're in agreement that it's quite splendid.

Ghost Car - Woman In The Shadows
I was looking for a different Ghost Car track, but this caught my ear first. It came out in January on a split LP between these and Valencian outfit Summerisle.

Fiesta Island - I'm Awake ft Jonny 'Huddersfield' Helm
Dreamy stuff from the Californians which matches Wave Pictures drummer Jonny Helm's vocals nicely. This came out at the back of August.

Splashh - Pure Blue
A first cut from the forthcoming LP Honey And Salt, the follow-up to their acclaimed debut Comfort. High hopes for the rest of the album on the back of this.

Horsebeach - I'm Alright
Another one from the Mancunians whose album II comes out this week. Almost Fleetwood Mac-ian at the start.

India Mill - Come On In My Gun
Another track from the LP Under Every Sky which we like a lot here. It came out almost a year ago, but so what. This is a belter.

Peter Hook and The Light - Atmosphere ft Rowetta
I heard the new New Order track the other day and was non-plussed to say the least. On the back of that and never having heard Peter Hook's outfit, I gave them a go. I prefer this, I reckon. Rowetta's vocals take it to somewhere else, but the overall sense is that these blokes are too old for all this crap. Just grow up and make proper New Order records. This is off the EP 1102/2011 which is four years old now.

Moth Effect - Last Orders At The Chateau Plaisir
A rough cut of a first track following the LP Crocodilians, which we very much enjoyed. More Boards Of Canada-esque floatiness. Bliss.

Dementio13 - We All Fall Down
Another one from August's The Dark Science LP which is great. We read, worryingly, that the man behind this stuff is thinking of jacking in music for a bit and focusing on visual art. Fair enough, we all need a break from time to time, but I hope it's not permanent.

Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Just when you're struggling to fill a show, your new feature section tees you up for a 10-minute Fall track. Easy.

Hooton Tennis Club - Kathleen Sat On The Arm Of Her Favourite Chair
From the Wirral and sounding a bit Pavement and a bit Teenage Fanclub. And that's a very good thing. This is the latest single from the acclaimed album Highest Point In Cliff Town.

Dog, Paper, Submarine - Ms Moonlet
Now sounding more Dinosaur Jr, some Swedes. This is off a 7-track EP/mini-album called Signal From Kepler-22B

Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures - Berlin
Another collaboration between house favourites The Wave Pictures and French chanteur Stanley Brinks. Their new LP is called My Ass and is out in a couple of weeks.

Featured AlbumThe Fall - Auto Chip 2014-2016
Here's your ten minutes of The Fall. Uniquely British, more uniquely Manchester. If it's possible to be more unique... Anyway, this is off their last LP, Sub-Lingual Tablet, which came out in May. Their 31st.

Lush Rimbaud - G Spot
To Italy now, Ancona more precisely, for something genial and pleasant. This is off L/R which is out on October 1.

The Iain Duncan Smiths - What Difference Does It Make (If All Our Testimonies Are Fake)
Off the album The Devil's Songs: The Very Worst Of The Iain Duncan Smiths, a four-piece take Smiths songs and turn them into satire on the DWP. I spoke to them for a piece on IBWM which should tell you all you need to know.

Los and The Deadlines - Feel At Ease
A multi-national four-piece based in London off their LP Perfect Holiday. Not easily categorisable, just jolly good.

Bicep - Just
Belfast now for some electronica. Off an EP of the same name which came out in May.

The Reverse Cowgirls - Cry Cry
And now some filthy garage rock from Glasgow. Outskirts came out in July.

Featured AlbumsThe Fall - Dedication Not Medication
And if you thought the previous record sounded like The Fall, here's The Fall. Probably my favourite track off Sub-Lingual Tablet, and it's up against some strong competition. It's one of their best.

Tellison - Tact Is Dead
Back to London now for this which I like a lot. Hope Fading Lightly comes out on Friday.

Kagoule - Made Of Concrete
Highly-rated Nottingham band whose album Urth came out in July. You'll be hearing these a lot. Not just here - everywhere.

Kryten - Upping Doses
Yes I was intrigued by the name and yes it is. They're from Aberfeldy, out Perth way in Scotland, a 2-piece and the album is Soda Jerk and it's out now.

Astro - Druida
And finally, some electronica from Chile. Chicos De La Luz - Boys of the light - came out in July.

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

Leftfield - Head And Shoulders ft Jason Williamson
And now I defy you to get the phrase 'chicken in a basket' out of your head. The latest single off the album Alternative Light Source.

Luca Afrobeat - Barse
The first of two tracks from Canterbury bands. First, this magnificent horn-laced funk from an 8-piece band from the EP Heard. And Barse is a great name for a single.

Origami Horses - Slates
And then this, off the LP Artful/Artless? which came out in June. A bit New Ordery, a bit Charlatansy and with a Foalsy vocal. Two out of three ain't bad.

Featured AlbumNeu! - Isi
This week, we feature Neu! 75, the third album from Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother's band post-Kraftwerk. It was something of an end point for the band. Tonight, I'll play the opening and closing tracks from it. This is the opener and picks up where Neu! 2 left off. By the time we get to the final track, it's clear that the two of them are going in different directions. Later in 1975, Bowie was in Hamburg and asked to record with Neu! Rother said no. What might have been...

John Grant - Disappointing ft Tracey Thorn
Magnificent. Lovely juxtaposition of Grant's booming baritone and Thorn's delicate vocals. Grant's new LP is Grey Tickles, Black Pressure and is out on October 2.

Kassassin Street - Radio Silence
Record of the week. I adore this. The synths really lift it. These are from Portsmouth and their debut EP is out next month.

The Crookes - Before The Night Falls
Show favourites from Sheffield. This is the latest single from the album Soapbox which came out last year. It's still splendid.

Pocket Gods - In Search Of The Divine
The title track from last month's album. From St Albans, something of a lost mark on Britain's musical map.

Lusts - Waves
Brothers Andy and James Stone of Leicester are Lusts. This is superb and if the rest of the album Illuminations, out on October 23, is anything like, we're in for a treat.

Dead Hope - Swordz
To Glasgow now for something pretty raw, but no less appealing for that.

Jim Johnston - Officer Paranoid
This is off an album that came out in March which has somehow passed me by until now. After All The Wishing... is Johnston's second album. More of that please.

Featured AlbumNeu! - After Eight
Like I say. Very different at the end to the start. And it progresses like that through the album.

The Ska Vengers - Frank Brazil
Indian ska now. These are from New Delhi and this is a tribute of sorts to Udham Singh, Indian revolutionary, executed 75 years ago for assassinating Frank O'Dwyer, orchestrator of the Amritsar massacre. Frank Brazil was one of Singh's aliases. History lesson this show as well... There's an album due in October.

Carter Tutti Void - f(2.6.2)
New from these, of the new album f(x) which is out on Friday. File under E for experimental.

Four Tet - Back 2 The Start
New track from Kieran Hebden. Bit more clubby than we're used to, perhaps, but none the worse for that.

V.I.P.N - I Am V.I.P.N
And to finish, something from a 17-year old kid from Germany called Viktor. I don't know anything more than that, just that I wasn't doing anything like this at 17.

Here's that on YouTube:

and Soundcloud, which for some reason doesn't seem to want to embed this week. Get it here anyway.

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

I return, slightly less stressed than a month ago. Anyway, I've changed it round a little bit, but the focus still remains new music. Let's see if I can remember which buttons do what on the console. Anyhoo...

John MOuse - Your Funny Little Ways
From Cardiff, John Davies is John MOuse and this is the new single taken from the album The Death Of John MOuse which is tremendous and you should buy it. This is out on the 18th.

Diet Cig - Dinner Date
Also out on the 18th, these are from upstate New York. It's on a double-A side - kids, ask your parents - with Sleep Talk.

Fruit Bomb - Goin' Home
From Manchester and featuring parts of house favourites Nai Harvest, this came out a few weeks ago. I'll be catching up on things from the last month or so for a while yet, methinks.

Featured AlbumThe Broken Heed - Funny Little Things
New feature section now. The Broken Heed is personal friend John Hartley who, like me, has suffered depression lately. He found CALM - the Campaign Against Living Miserably - a help. One phone call to their impartial hotline costs £7, so John decided to record the album, also called The Broken Heed, to raise money for the charity. It's a very personal album, but also very good. Crowdfunding raised the cash for a physical release. Get it off bandcamp.

Lou Barlow - Moving
A new album, the first in six years, from Mr Barlow. Brace The Wave is out on Friday.

Menace Beach - Ghoul Power
Another track from the new EP Super Transporterreum which is out on the 25th and is excellent.

Houdini Dax - Found Love In The Dole Office
Another one from Cardiff - there is some great stuff coming out of South Wales at the moment. A very pleasing ditty off the album Naughty Nation which is out now.

Poledo - Loser
Oxford now, and this is really pleasing. Off an EP called Egg Ccun Catpil Butfli. Me neither.

Nightingales - The Only Son
Another one from the Birmingham veterans latest LP Mind Over Matter. It really is a superb album. The oldies showing everyone how it's done.

April Towers - A Little Bit Of Fear
To Nottingham now. This came out last Friday.

Bruja - Horsey & You
Bruja means witch in Spanish, as anyone familiar with Juan Sebastian Veron will already know. Anyway, these are from Barnsley and this is off a self-titled album which is out now.

Featured AlbumThe Broken Heed - How To Be A Man
Another from our featured album of the week. There are so many things trying to tell you what being a man is. It's all meaningless.

Traams - Succulent Thunder Anthem
I doubt we've had a Chichester band on before. Difficult to know what you'd be influenced by down there. Either way, I like this. Off Modern Dancing which is out in November.

Sextile - Can't Take It
An LA band and off the album A Thousand Hands which came out last week.

Lesbian Horse - They Are A Part Of The Wave Of The Future
Another one from this project which I've played before. Since then, I've been in touch with the brains of the operation which is Sam Jones, a France-based Welshman. No albums. No physical releases. Just watch the stars (well, social media) and keep your ears open.